Skoda Auto Sales in Australia via vfacts

[K1W1]

But looks like VW wants to kill Skoda here, (in order to push up their sale into the top 5) the Rapid will probably priced at $22990 manuel with barebone equipment plus ORC. You would expect to pay $45000+ drive away for a fully loaded Rapid. (And you still have to add $1000 to retrofit a RVC cuz Skoda won't offer it)

The new Octavia will probably start at $30990 for a 1.4TSI Manuel, and $47990 RS TDI with DSG.

And we will see Skoda bailing out of the Australian market soon!

And the basis for these statements is?

I assume that you have factual information and that these are not just the dribble coming from a person who in very post tries to degrade Skoda.

Put your balls on the line if you have any and tell us the basis for your statements.

[bobski]

I'm a bit confused. One article has them up by 90% at half year and another having a total of 1 more vehicle than 2011. Suppose we should wait for some official figures before jumping to conclusions.

[aware]

And the basis for these statements is?

I assume that you have factual information and that these are not just the dribble coming from a person who in very post tries to degrade Skoda.

As opposed to someone who likes to argue with every person in every post?

[aware]

I'm a bit confused. One article has them up by 90% at half year and another having a total of 1 more vehicle than 2011. Suppose we should wait for some official figures before jumping to conclusions.

FCAI has 2011 sales at 3,501. 2012 sales of 3,502 (CarAdvice)

[VAG newbie]

And the basis for these statements is?

I assume that you have factual information and that these are not just the dribble coming from a person who in very post tries to degrade Skoda.

Put your balls on the line if you have any and tell us the basis for your statements.

I was being sarcastic here. But based on previous/current pricing with Skoda's, I won't be surprised if these are the actual pricing.

Think about Roomster when it first came out, in 2008 straight after GFC, I believed they priced it at $29990 for a manual 1.9TDI.

I can't remember what was the price for Octavia, but vaguely something in the mid $30's.

Superb Ambition was originally priced at $43990! Even now at $38990, Ambition is still too expensive!

For Yeti, VWA was originally gonna price the Yeti 1.2TSI at somewhere close to the $30k, until they felt the pressure from rivals, that they lower the price to $26990. Fabia is still ridiculously priced at $18990 starting price.

In fact, I might be still a bit optimistic in predicting the Rapid at $22990. Based on VWA policy, the equivalent Skoda should priced at 10% cheaper than its VW rivals, irrespective of the equipment level. The entry level Jetta costs $26490, so Rapid will be 10% cheaper at $23840.

I'm not trying to degrade Skoda. I love my Skoda and I am planning to get another Superb after my current lease finishes. But what p**s me off is that VWA has full control of its pricing and equipment level, and what they've done so far is just to protect the VW brand by killing Skoda. What's my basis of saying this? The stupid 10% lower pricing policy for the equivalent Skoda! Why are they competing the 2 sister brands? Why can't they price Skoda based on other rival brands like Hyundai or Kia? Even Mazda or Toyota?

I don't think Skoda's failure here in Aus is due to Australian's reluctance of accepting unknown brand. If you deliver a product that consumer wants, we will accept! Kia and Hyundai are the best proof of it. Skoda makes far superior cars than Hyundai and Kia, and it has such a potential to succeed! Yet VWA can manage to sell only 1 more car than 2011, that's just beyond belief. And my explanation for that, is the ridiculous pricing. It just won't attract people to sit behind the wheel to appreciate how good the car is.

Even for me, a die hard Skoda fan, if by 2014 when my lease is due, and Superb is still the current price with current equipment level, I find it very hard to justify buying it over Passat, which would be better equipped at the same price, or a Mazda6, which is cheaper and much better equipment (and arguably better looking).

[bobski]

FCAI has 2011 sales at 3,501. 2012 sales of 3,502 (CarAdvice)

Thanks for clearing that up. The numbers still seem weird, but only because of the 90% figure in the goauto article. There were two new models launched in the second half of 2011, so regos may have gone up both artificially (dealer demos) and organically (people eagerly awaiting their cars). Perhaps a similar number of sales is actually a slight win for 2012 if Skoda didn't have too much new stuff (and an aging Octavia)

If the assumption that there is a more fat in a skoda than a VW, VAG may well be happy to sell 3500 skodas a year. I suppose we might know if they do a price/equipment repositioning to make the models more attractive against the VW gear.

[joel0407]

I'm with those that think Skoda pricing has a lot to do with there sales.

The Yeti for example is 5 - 8 thousand pounds cheaper than the Tiguan in the UK but here they are priced near the same. Skoda says yes but you get more option standard with the Yeti, like 17" wheels on the 103tdi. I couldn't hepl but notice the Tiguan has Bi-Xenons as standard but the Yeti doesn't.

They couldn't even use import costs as an excuse for the price. If the government charges and freight is a fixed price, a skoda should arrive with the same price difference as the UK. If the import cost is percentage based, as the initial cost is less the gap should get bigger.

I still bought the Yeti over the Tiguan because I liked it more. The flexible seating, better handling and a few other things but the price thing still got under my skin.

In the UK, Skoda is marketed as VW's cheap brand. I think for Skoda to win here VW Australia need to do the same. When someone walks into a VW dealership to look at a VW and is then shocked by the price the dealer could say "Well, hey look at this Skoda. It's got all these VW bits, motor, gearbox etc, but it looks different and it's cheaper".

With the availability and freeness of information on the web these days, I don't think it can work to market a car brand as a cheap brand in one country and a premium in another.

I can't remember where I saw it but I recently red a comparison between the Fabia RS and the Polo GTI. Both were the same price, both have the same motor and gearbox, The Fabia is slightly lighter but manufactures quoted 0 - 100km/h times had the Polo quicker. I don't know how that works. Maybe the Polo has better tyres? I just couldn't work out how a heavier car with everything being equal (power and delivery wise) could be faster?

Happy Days.

[joel0407]

There is another consideration. I wonder how many Skoda's are sold but currently sitting on the dock. That's where mine is. I have paid deposit but I doubt they would count it as being sold yet.

It arrived in Australia on 23 December but the dock is closed until 13 January. That's 3 weeks worth of car sales that aren't counted yet. Maybe the VW ship arrived a few days earlier and cleared the dock before Christmas meaning they have been delivered to the customers and counted as sales.

Happy Days.

[Rooboy]

There is another consideration. I wonder how many Skoda's are sold but currently sitting on the dock. That's where mine is. I have paid deposit but I doubt they would count it as being sold yet.

Swings and roundabouts - They count registrations for the official data which includes demo models. Rumours are around that some manufacturers offer incentives for dealers to register cars as demos at the end of the year to boost sales figures. FCAI haven't been too worried about so far as the cars have to be sold to a paying customer at some point which will affect future sales figures (can't count the same car twice). Maybe this is why Skoda figures looked so good early and dropped off at the end of the year. There were a few posts last year about the number of demo models people were seeing in dealer yards and Essendon had a lot of registered cars they were offering in their end of year specials.

[joel0407]

Just red the SMH and the GoAuto articles. I'm not convinced until I see the FCAI Industry summary. I work in government and I know how much stats can be skewed to suit different outcomes.

One month Skoda is "the fastest growing car brand", "Sales up 90% over the previous year". Next thing you hear, "Skoda sales stagnant, same figures as last year".

Happy Days

[joel0407]

Swings and roundabouts - They count registrations for the official data which includes demo models. Rumours are around that some manufacturers offer incentives for dealers to register cars as demos at the end of the year to boost sales figures. FCAI haven't been too worried about so far as the cars have to be sold to a paying customer at some point which will affect future sales figures (can't count the same car twice). Maybe this is why Skoda figures looked so good early and dropped off at the end of the year. There were a few posts last year about the number of demo models people were seeing in dealer yards and Essendon had a lot of registered cars they were offering in their end of year specials.

I like your thoughts. I did notice when I was looking for my Yeti there were plenty of specials on 2011 models and demos. A quick search of Carsales.com.au at the time would bring up 10+ pages of Yeti all registrered with varying KM.

Happy Days.

[dArK5HaD0w]

I'm with those that think Skoda pricing has a lot to do with there sales.
.....
In the UK, Skoda is marketed as VW's cheap brand. I think for Skoda to win here VW Australia need to do the same.

With the availability and freeness of information on the web these days, I don't think it can work to market a car brand as a cheap brand in one country and a premium in another.

That's the key difference - in Europe, Skoda does its own pricing, governed by VWaG. The same goes for VW.
However in Oz, VW Australia decides the pricing for Skoda.
Its already been mentioned numerous times - VW Aus will not allow, no matter how good, Skoda to sell well here in Aus.
VWaG are not looking for large sales volume for Skoda. They already sell millions worldwide.
VWaG is just being nice to the Australian market by giving us the choice to buy a Skoda, under the mercy of VW Australia.

Who knows, one day VW Austraia will decide they no longer want the burden of selling Skoda, and shut shop.

Opel used to sell, for many years, through Holden. Now they've stop and started selling on their own two feet.
Skoda need to do the same - stop letting VW pull the strings, and stand on their own feet, just like Audi.
However that won't happen - VWaG is not desperate.

[Rooboy]

Just red the SMH and the GoAuto articles. I'm not convinced until I see the FCAI Industry summary. I work in government and I know how much stats can be skewed to suit different outcomes.

Figures are here 2012 New Car Sales Figures Total | CarAdvice. There is a post in the Superb section where I put the model sales that I was able to find or work out.

[Ocy_RS_TDi_Kombi]

Thanks for clearing that up. The numbers still seem weird, but only because of the 90% figure in the goauto article. There were two new models launched in the second half of 2011, so regos may have gone up both artificially (dealer demos) and organically (people eagerly awaiting their cars). Perhaps a similar number of sales is actually a slight win for 2012 if Skoda didn't have too much new stuff (and an aging Octavia).

Spot on. There were heaps of dealer Yeti registrations in November & December last year (from memory Skoda did 600+ sales in Dec 2011) and this drove the overall up in 2011. So to do 3502 sales in 2012 vs 3501 in 2011 is good - yes the additional one reg would have been a push from HQ to make sure sales in 2012 exceeded 2011.

What is a worry is Skoda only did 116 sales in December 2012 - even Citroen and Fiat beat them! Opel did 122 in Dec 2012.

[brad]

BTW, who is the new boss in Skoda Aus now? Didn't know that Matt Wiesner got sacked. But whoever the boss is only a puppet. VW Aus has the real power. So nothing will change.

I don't think he was sacked. He announced his resignation back in September & didn't finish until late December so i assume the parting was ammicable. His LinkedIn page says he's "On Sabbatical"